Life and Love in the Fast Lane
by maddenhenge
Summary: Team RWBY and Team JNPR all living together trying to balance their personal lives with their street racing careers and try to not get busted by the cops and keep their emotions in check as the world throws curve balls left and right.
1. Chapter 1

"Ruby you okay?"

Yang was trying to get Ruby to focus on the track ahead. They needed to test out Ruby's new car on the back roads before taking it on the open streets.

"Ya I am fine just a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" " What if I am not good enough to evade the cops and get caught?"

This question had been plaguing Ruby for days while she was getting this new car modified and tuned to her liking.

"Well that's why we are testing the car here at the track before taking it out on the open roads. Well let's get this started we don't have all the time in the world."

The sisters revved up their cars and prepared to burn down the 1/4th mile track as fast as possible. The cars sped off of the start line and burned rubber down the track with Yang's car taking a slight lead over her younger sister's car. Ruby tightened her grip on her steering wheel because she did not want to lose to her older sister. She pushed her modified 1996 Corvette Grand Sport to its limits and started to close the gap on her sister and realized she had passed the finish line ahead of her sister.

"Yang looks like this car wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Ruby joked into the phone as she drove over to where Yang was sitting.

"Told you this new car was gonna be a work of engineering art, Rubes."

"I guess I should believe you more often when you say 'This car is gonna be one of the best there is.: We should get back to the house soon before the others start getting suspicious."

They hadn't told the rest of their friends they were working on building Ruby a new ride and if they got home too late they might see it before it is finished. The ride back was uneventful, mainly small talk and jokes about how Yang wasn't pushing her yellow 2010 Camaro SSX to its limits, but once Yang parked her car in the garage and they hid Ruby's new car they went up to their flat they shared with their friends and found Blake to be reading on the back patio, much to their dismay, they tried to be as quiet as possible but Blake was still able to hear them with her faunus hearing.

"So where were you guys this early in the morning?" Blake questioned, still sitting on the patio.

"Uh, you know out for a run." Yang answered, trying to think quickly.

She quickly shot a glare at Ruby that was begging for her to help.

"Ya, we were out for an early morning run since it's still cool and not eighty degrees." Ruby said with speed only rivaled by Blake's SR-71 Blackbird Mustang.

"Is that why I heard you guys parking in the garage?" Blake continued her questioning.

"Ruby, were busted." Yang said, starting to get breakfast going for the three of them.

"What we were really doing is testing out my new car and seeing if it's ready to take out on the streets yet." Ruby said, trying to hide her fears of what the others would say.

"Well Weiss owes me fifty dollars now. We made a bet on what it was you guys were heading out so early about and well I guessed it was a new car being tested while she said you guys were going to someplace private." Blake explained.

"Whoa, she said what now?" Yang was startled that Weiss would say something like that.

"Ya she pretty much said you guys were getting it on, even though you are sisters. I don't understand why she thought that but I get fifty dollars out of her cause I was right." Blake was starting to mock Weiss behind her back but Yang had finished making them bacon, grits, and sausage with some salmon for Blake.

"Hey look Blake, breakfast is ready." Ruby pointed out, joining Blake out on the patio waiting for Yang to finish making the food.

"Okay, what's the new ride Ruby?" Blake asked as the food was placed on the small table they had on the patio.

"I'll show you once we finish eating so you can take a look under the hood and wake up Weiss to collect your money. Now let's eat this food Yang made before the others wake up." Ruby avoided the question for the time being.

As they are eating Weiss stumbles out into the common room of the flat, only half awake and drawn toward the food. "Blake, why are you up so early and why does the food smell so good?"

Weiss yawned out.

"I'm always up this early, I like to read by the early morning light. Also take a seat and eat for a bit, Yang made extra and it's gonna help you wake up more to see what Ruby wants to show us." Blake told her half asleep friend.

They ate the rest of their breakfast and once they finished and cleaned up went down to the garage to see the car Ruby and Yang had been working on in secret. Ruby took the tarp off of her red Grand Sport and showed it to Blake and Weiss.

"Well looks like I win the bet Weiss where's my money?" Blake said with a smirk on her face.

"Let me grab it out of my new 2015 Ferrari LaFerrari." Weiss had bought a new car and was gloating about it even though she was annoyed she lost the bet. "

What happened to your old Porsche?" Ren asked, having been away for a few days to deal with a family member passing away.

The ladies had not noticed Ren come in and it surprised all of them.

"Why didn't you call one of us to come get you from the airport?" Blake asked concerned.

"I assumed you guys were still going to be asleep and called a taxi to bring me back. Also Ruby is that what was under that tarp the entire time?" Ren didn't like to bother his friends with things he could handle.

"Yes it was."

"Well I am gonna go into the common room and watch TV til I pass out on the couch and Nora wakes me up." Ren remarked as he went up to the flat.

"So Weiss what is this I heard about you thinking me and Ruby have gotten it on before?" Yang said with a sadistic smile.

"Uh, I had heard noises coming from you guys room I could not recognize so I made an assumption and well it was that you guys were having sex." Weiss stammered out cause Yang only made that face when she was gonna punch someone, "Well before I get punched I am going to go drive somewhere." Weiss got into her car and pulled out pretty quickly to avoid the wrath of Yang.

"Well I am gonna head up and watch some TV with Ren before Nora wakes up and drags him off. Care to join me or stand around down here doing nothing?" Ruby said, a slight bit annoyed that she wasn't careful enough to keep it a surprise.

"Sure you coming Yang?"

"Ya I will, if it may be just so I don't kill Weiss when she gets back."

So the three went up to the common room of the flat to find Ren already asleep in the recliner and the TV not even on.

"I guess he was actually worn out enough to not even get the TV on before passing out." Blake said with slight concern for how long he actually slept while on his trip.

"So what now? I am not moving him and we don't want to wake him up." Yang, still annoyed, said.

"Well you two need showers and I am going to go read more of my book on the patio." Blake remarked.

With that the three went to do the things they needed to or, in Blake's case, wanted to. What they didn't know was that their biggest challenges were soon to come, both with each other and their other friends but in the racing world as well.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Nora, wake up. Ren made pancakes!" Pyrrah was trying to get her friend out of bed because it was almost noon and they were scheduled to get manicures and pedicures at 3:00.

"Isn't Ren not supposed to be back until tomorrow?" Nora yawned, still lying in bed.

"Yes, but things happened and he is here now." Pyrrah lied, she knew Ren wasn't going to be back until the next day she just needed to get Nora out of bed.

"Ugh fine I'll get up, but there better be a Ren with pancakes out there waiting." Nora said, annoyed she had been woken up.

Pyrrah left the room to let Nora get dressed but stood next to the door so she could lock it once Nora came out. Pyrrah looked out into the common room to see who all was doing what, but kept an eye on the door Nora was going to come out of. She saw Ruby and Yang sitting on the couch playing video games; Weiss was sitting there chuckling to herself it seemed like; Jaune, her boyfriend, was sitting on a bar stool reading his gaming magazine; when she looked over to the recliner she saw Ren sleeping, looking like he had been up all night.

"Wait he's not supposed to be back yet." Pyrrah thought to herself, confused on why he was home already.

Nora walked out of the room and into the hallway that lead to the common room and Pyrrah locked the door behind her. "I know you were lying about Ren being back but I know you will bug me until I get up so here I am." Nora said to Pyrrah, unaware of where Ren was sleeping.

"Nora look over at the recliner." Pyrrah pointed out the sleeping Ren and Nora charged him like a bull toward a red cape.

She jumped on him screaming, "YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE BACK UNTIL TOMORROW! WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Everyone else looked up, shocked at the sudden outburst of Nora.

"Yes Nora I wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow but everything went different than they were supposed to and well I got to get back earlier than expected. I actually surprised Blake, Yang, Ruby and Weiss when I walked into the garage this morning." Ren started explaining, having been woke up by the Nora attack.

"Nora, don't you and Pyrrah have an appointment for manicures and pedicures in a couple of hours?" Jaune asked, looking at his watch.

"Yes that's why I got her up because I didn't think Ren was actually home yet." Pyrrah responded.

"So what are you guys all doing today?" Ren asked the group.

"I'm heading to watch a movie with Cardin tonight." Ruby answered.

"I'm going to stay here at the house with Yang and Weiss to play video games." Jaune responded.

"We are heading to playtest decks tonight at the game store unless you forgot, Ren." Blake said, surprising everyone.

No one had noticed she entered the room and started leaning against the wall.

"I did forget but I didn't plan anything else to do so that will still happen." Ren said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Nora and I should get going to go meet up with Coco and Velvet for lunch then our appointment afterward." Pyrrah said to get Nora off of Ren and out the door.

Nora looked at the clock and said, "Yeah, don't we have to meet them at 1:30 for lunch or something?'

"Yes and it's almost 12:30 now so let's go." Pyrrah was getting a bit annoyed, but it was common for Nora to do things like this so she couldn't complain much.

"Okay I will meet you in your car." Nora called to Pyrrah as she was heading out the door.

After that Nora got off of Ren and started toward the door. Then the rest of the group decided to go back to what they were doing until their plans for that night, those of them who had plans at least.

"Hey there's Coco and Velvet and it looks like they dragged Fox and Yatsuhashi with them." Pyrrah joked from the driver's seat of her 2009 Jeep Cherokee.

"Which one of the guys is getting paid more to come do you think?" Nora joked back.

"Fox probably, Yatsuhashi will do anything for Velvet without question." Pyrrah responded, knowing the answer already.

"We better get out and meet them." She continued.

The two got out of the car and met Coco and Velvet and their men at the door. Yatsuhashi and Fox quickly moved to the doors to open them for the ladies, like they had rehearsed this or just knew how to be gentlemen. The four ladies went inside, followed by the gentlemen and were escorted to their seats by the attendant. The ladies had decided on a place that was renowned for their Breadsticks and Chicken Parmesan.

After they were seated, Coco asked "Where's Ruby? I thought she was going to join us for this."

"She is heading to Cardin's house to watch a movie." Pyrrah said, with a shrug.

"Wait wait wait, Cardin? I thought he was a huge prick." Velvet said, shocked.

"He is, but he makes Ruby happy so I'm not allowed to break his legs." Nora said, with an evil smirk on her face because of the thought of breaking Cardin's legs.

The restaurant wasn't packed so the food they had ordered arrived quickly.

"The food looks better than on the ads." Fox stammered, trying to get to his food so he could eat as fast as possible.

Coco shot him a glare and he stopped acting like a fool. After the food got served, the conversation stopped as they ate.

Once they finished, Pyrrah asked, "How are we doing the check, all as one or split up?"

"I'll pay for Velvet, Nora and I and Fox will pay for Coco, Pyrrah and himself." Yatsuhashi said, volunteering himself and Fox to pay for lunch.

"Okay, when the waiter gets back we will say how we're going to split the check." Fox agreed, pulling out his wallet.

Then the waiter came back and Fox and Yatsuhashi told him how they were splitting the check. Once the check had been paid for the group went back to their vehicles to head to their next destination.

"We will follow you guys to the nail place." Pyrrah had rolled down her window and called to the other cars.

The group heads out and over to the nail place so the girls can get their nails done and the guys can pay for it.

Once they head inside, Fox walks up to the person running the shop and says, "Can we get each of the ladies a manicure and pedicure?"

"Sure, ladies right this way."

The shop owner motions to the ladies and directs them to some chairs in which the ladies sit down in.

"I am still trying to figure out how the fuck Cardin and Ruby are dating." Coco said while sitting down into her chair.

"Wait Cardin as in Cardin Winchester?" The woman that owned the shop questioned with a concerned look on her face.

Pyrrah, noting the concern on the woman's face, responded with, "Yes, is there a thing we should be concerned about?"

The woman, with a look of fear on her face hastily said, "Yes, you should be very concerned, Cardin has a history of abusing his girlfriends if they displease him in any way."

"FUCK! I KNEW SOMETHING WAS FUCKING OFF WITH HIM I'M GONNA BREAK HIS DAMN KNEES!" Nora screamed, with an unrivaled wrath.

"As soon as we are done here we are going to rush over to Cardin's house and get Ruby out of there." Pyrrah said to take control of the situation.

"That means hurry up." Nora said, eyes flaming. As soon as the ladies were done with their appointment the guys paid and they all rushed to Cardin's house.

"So how are you liking the movie?" Ruby asked, while resting her head on Cardin's chest.

"It's not bad, but I prefer my action movies." Cardin shrugged.

"The Princess Bride has action. It's just not a complete bloodbath though." Ruby stated, with a smile on her face.

"Hey Ruby I need to go to the bathroom can you get off of me so I can?" Cardin said, noting the smile on Ruby's face.

"Sure." Ruby said, getting off of Cardin.

Cardin gets up and goes to the bathroom and as he goes into the bathroom his phone vibrates on the table next to the couch Ruby is on.

"Hey Cardin your phone is going off." Ruby calls to the bathroom as she picks the phone up.

"Look who it is please." Cardin calls back.

Ruby looks at the phone and sees a text from someone named Handler and it says "Don't get comfy with the racer we need you to pry her for info not fall in love with her." Ruby gasps and Cardin comes rushing out pants only half up.

"Who is this 'Handler' person and what do they mean when they say you need to 'Pry her for info and not fall in love with her'." Ruby questioned, scared having jumped off the couch and backing away from Cardin.

Cardin pulls out an M9 Bayonet out of his pocket and advances toward Ruby with the weapon raised.

"Cardin what are you doing?" Ruby quickly says, backing away scared. "Making sure my cover is not blown." Cardin angrily grunts out, slashing at Ruby with the knife.

Ruby opens the door and quickly moves out of it but not before she can be hit in the arm by the serrated edge.

"FUCK." Ruby yells as she get hit by the blade on her arm. "Must get to Ren and Blake quickly before anything else happens." Ruby says in her head quickly while rushing down the stairs to the front of the building to try to get to the game store Ren and Blake are at down the street.

"Ren this deck seems like it's getting better I am not losing by turn six anymore to you." Blake said to give herself some confidence after losing her 5th game in a row to Ren's black and white vampires lifelink deck.

"Yes it does your actually have counters to my biggest threats now." Ren replied. "Before our next match I am going to swap decks though so you can't get too comfortable with facing one deck because that is not how real tournaments work.

"Hey is that Ruby running into the store and why does she look like she is in pain?" "Wait is that blood on her?" Blake noticed the red stain on the younger girl's body, "Shit, that is blood you get her some attention while I try to find out who did this."

Ren quickly noticed and started to take control of the situation. Both of them got up and quickly moved over to Ruby who looked to be in shock and trying to talk to the owner. "I was attacked-d b-by my boy-yfriend." Ruby stuttered out to the owner of the card game store, Joey. Ren's eyes immediately dilated and when Cardin walked in Ren did a roundhouse kick and put his foot right into the side of Cardin's face.

"Woah, Ren are you ok?" Brett, an employee of the store, asked shocked by Ren's sudden outburst.

"I am completely fine but this son of a bitch won't be for injuring Ruby." Ren grunted out with a stare at Cardin that was like a predator staring at its' prey.

Joey stepped between Ren and the girls behind him. "Kyle, better get the authorities down here before things get crazier." Joey called out to the back of the store.

As he is calling this out, Pyrrah, Jaune, Yang, Nora, Weiss, Velvet, Fox, Coco and Yatsuhashi burst through the front door of the store and see Ren standing over Cardin with murder in his eyes.

"Ren where is Ruby is she ok and why do you look like you are about to murder Cardin?" Pyrrah hastily asked.

"Ruby is in the back with Blake and I am about to kill this son of a bitch because he injured Ruby with a knife." Ren grunted back, pointing at the knife, "He is lucky I do not end him right here and right now."

Pyrrah and some of the others head to the back to check on Ruby, leaving Cardin, Ren, and Yatsuhashi in the front.

"Yatsuhashi please help me restrain this bastard until the authorities arrive." Ren looked at Yatsuhashi when he said, "I will gladly help you with this sack of shit."

The two men restrain Cardin until the authorities arrive and after everyone goes home and settles down for the night.

Blake asks. "Hey Ruby, Nora can I talk to you guys for a bit?"


	3. Chapter 3

"So what you are trying to say is that you want me and Nora's permission to ask Ren out," Ruby said, confused at what Blake asked.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am asking. Nora, you are all but blood-related to him and Ruby, you were the one saved by Ren that made me realize that I was in love with him." Blake explained, noting Ruby's confused expression. "Nora, what is your take on all of this?" Blake asked looking over to Nora because she was being quiet.

"I honestly am not sure because this is all so sudden," Nora said, in shock at what Blake asked her and Ruby.

"I know this is a lot because of what happened not even twelve hours ago, but I decided to go ahead and talk to you guys before I could talk myself out of doing it," Blake said, explaining her motives sighing.

"I kind of know what you're going through Blake, trying to just get the hard part out of the way so it gets easier from here, and the best advice I can give you right now is just go for it and make a mighty leap." Pyrrah strolled into the room, yawning out.

"Pyrrah how much did you overhear?!" Blake said, shocked that Pyrrah had overheard what they were talking about.

"Enough to know who you like and what you're scared of." Pyrrah calmly chimed, taking a seat in the recliner. "The way you are with Ren right now is the same way I was with Jaune before we started dating, scared of what he is going to say and what might happen if you get rejected."

"You never did tell us how you and Jaune got together actually Pyrrah. Mind telling us that story so Blake here has an idea on how to ask a guy out." Nora said, with a look of curiosity.

Pyrrah leaned forward in the recliner and looked at her and Jaune's room, remembering the days, not so long past, when she had asked Jaune out. As she looked over she saw Jaune in their bed, lightly snoring as he did and started to recount the tale of when Arkos came to be. "Let's start from about a week before I asked that slab of muscle out." Pyrrah started to recount the tale of the pairing to the three girls sitting in the living room of the flat the group all shared. "I was new in the racing scene and I was heading to a race that was supposed to have a few up and comers with some veterans. What actually happened is I was the only up and coming racer in a group of veterans. Before the race started, I looked around and saw him in his 2004 Mustang GTR, chilling like a stud. I must have lost myself in how handsome he is because before I knew it the race was starting and I had to focus on the race, instead of Jaune. When the race started, I gunned my Cherokee off the start line and shot off of the line into an early lead. Jaune's GTR was hot on my tail out of the gate and it seemed to me like he was the one people were betting on to win. We made the first turn onto the open streets and it felt to me like the race was just me and him, no one else to worry about, and that was sorta right because none of the other racers were anywhere close to us. We burned through corner after corner and straight away after straight away, with him unable to pass me and me unable to widen the gap. We raced around the city for what felt like hours but in reality, it was only a few minutes. As we rounded the final gap into the final straight away, I saw a police barricade and a ramp to jump over it with and signaled to Jaune to follow me. Lucky for both of us, he wasn't stubborn and saw the same barricade and another ramp to jump over it with. We both jumped over the barricade and landed next to one another, neck and neck. We burned rubber to get to the finish line before the other, but neither of us could get ahead of the other. The race ended in a photo finish but we were so neck and neck it was near impossible to call. We were both handed halves of the prize money and I walked up to Jaune after we both collected our money and said 'Nice race out there, by the way, my name is Pyrrah.' sticking out my hand to shake his. He shook my hand and said 'My name is Jaune, nice to meet you Pyrrah, we need to race again sometime.' I said 'Yes we most certainly do, also I want to give you something.' I went to my car to grab a pen and a piece of paper but when I came back to where Jaune was, he and his car were gone. 'Well going to need to go track him down.' I followed the road they said he went down and found him stopped at a stop sign. 'You think it's that easy to leave without taking my phone number.' I joked to him handing him my phone number. 'I thought you were gonna shoot me or something, female racers can be crazy at times. I know a few.' He said, still scared a bit. I could tell he was scared so I prodded that racer spirit of his by saying 'Want to go head to head for a quarter mile?' He generously said 'Works for me because right after the quarter mile mark there is a turn, over in your lane while mine heads straight.' We got ready and on the count of 3 shot out of that stop sign toward the quarter mile we had agreed upon. We were neck and neck just like back at the race end and well it stayed that way, showing we were as evenly matched as could be. When we got to the place the road split, I made a left following the road, while he went straight. When I got to my hotel, I checked my phone and saw a text saying 'Where the road splits is not where you say goodbye it's where you say see you later.' Wow, that took longer than I thought it would." Pyrrah said, getting up to get a drink of water. "Any of you want something to drink while I grab a water bottle?" "No I think we're good," Blake said and both Ruby and Nora nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I am just going to grab this then get back to the story," Pyrrah called, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge.

Once Pyrrah grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge she moved back over to the recliner where she found the three girls fast asleep. "I knew those three could fall asleep fast but damn that's a new record for them. What time is it even?" Pyrrah said, wondering how long they had been up.

Pyrrah pulled her phone out of her pajama pants pocket and looked at the time.

"Well fuck, it's five in the morning and I don't think any of those three got any sleep until now, considering last night. I'm really hoping if Blake got anything out of my story it's that she can ask Ren out and not be scared." Pyrrah said, sighing.

Pyrrah picked up Blake and carried her to Blake's room and put her in bed with her book. She then took Ruby and Nora to their respective rooms and put them in their beds.

 _Better get back to Jaune before he realizes I snuck out of bed and replaces where I lay with a pillow._ Pyrrah thought to herself, chuckling.

The next morning, as Ren was making pancakes for everyone, Yang prodded him in the side and jokingly said, "I saw you beat the shit out of Cardin last night; where did you learn to be that ferocious?"

Ren replied, seemingly remembering a thing that he didn't like to remember, "I learned how to be that ferocious in a place I don't like to remember."

Yang said, knowing she hit a nerve by the way Ren's face contorted as she said it, "Okay if you ever want to talk about that part of your history, you know we are all here for you."

Ren, finishing up the pancakes, said, "I know and well I am not sure how you would all react to it which is mainly why I haven't told you guys." 

Ren passed out the pancakes he had made for everyone, well everyone that was there because Nora, Ruby, and Blake weren't there because they were still asleep.

"I wonder if something is wrong, Nora isn't out here making me make three times the number of pancakes I should," Ren said, taking a seat at the bar.

"She was up very late last night, dealing with the aftermath and revelations of what happened," Pyrrah said, in between bites of pancake.

"Ren, why don't you go on those cooking shows and win loads of money? You can cook with pretty much everything and anything and it will be tasty. Yang questioned, gesturing toward the worn down pots and pans.

"I don't go on those style of shows because I don't see the point of being a showoff when you can just hone your craft for those around you," Ren said, shrugging his shoulders. "I also don't think my food is good enough to have not gone to culinary school and still show up and be an actual competitor, I'm not Alton Brown.

"Who the hell is Alton Brown?" Yang asked, stuffing her face with some sausage she warmed up from the previous morning.

"Alton Brown is a culinary artist that never went to a culinary school but is still renowned for making those who even went to a culinary school jealous of his skill. Not always is the case where you can pay your way to be famous with enough money. Alton Brown is a perfect example of it, he relied on pure skill alone and he is one of the most renowned cooks in the world." Ren explained, sighing at how he was the only one who cared about cooking.

"Thanks for breakfast, Ren, now I am going to head out to deal with some business," Yang said, with fire in her eyes.

"Yang, if you're about to do what I think you are, don't because I don't want to post your bail money," Pyrrah said, seeing Yang's eyes.

"Fine; but I still want to go have a talk with him," Yang said, rolling her eyes.

"Sure, but I am going with you so you can't murder him," Pyrrah said, knowing what Yang wanted to do to Cardin. "I also want to make him pay for what he did but going to jail is not how to do it."

"Anyway, we better get going before I get more ideas about what to do to him," Yang said, with an evil smirk on her face.

"Yeah let's go, because I have plans later and I want you to get this out before I go so you can't go get yourself put in jail while I can't supervise you," Pyrrah remarked, looking at Yang's smirk and knowing she had already thought of more crazy things to do to Cardin.

Pyrrah and Yang left, with their plates still where they were sitting because they knew Ren would clean up as he always did. Which Ren did exactly that, to prepare for the other girls to get up. Jaune sat quietly at the bar as he always did, but this time was different, he was thinking about what Ren had said earlier after Yang asked him where he learned to be that ferocious. As soon as he heard the girls driving off, he asked "Ren, what are you hiding from us? I want to know because how you act when talking about your past, how you dress, and hell, even how you talk reminds me of a stereotypical ninja."

Ren responded while looking off into the distance, "Fine, I will tell you but you can't tell the girls because they would freak the hell out, especially Blake."

"Deal, if I may ask though. Why did you specifically say Blake would freak out?" Jaune responded, knowing he wouldn't tell because it's probably hidden from everyone else for a reason.

"I specifically said, Blake, because I don't want to ruin any chance I have with her," Ren said, sighing because he admitted he was in love with Blake.

What he didn't know was that Blake was around the corner listening and heard that Ren loved her. Blake freaked out slightly internally because she felt the same way about him. Jaune spotted Blake around the corner and gestured for her to come eat some pancakes. Blake came around the corner, red as a tomato and as soon as Ren saw her he went as red as a tomato also.

Blake stammered out, "So Ren, is there something you want to ask me?"

Ren muttered, "Oh sugar honey ice tea."

Jaune looked at Blake's face and then Ren's and said, "Well, there are some things that need to be talked about it looks like."

 **AN: I'm sorry this took so long to write and get up but I am not the most motivated person and I do not think I am the best writer so ya. Plus life is being annoying, but no more excuses school is almost over so I have more time to write.**


	4. Chapter 4

Yang and Pyrrha drove to the jail where Cardin was being held to go confront him about the incident with Ruby. They were both mad at Cardin and wanted to do horrible things to him to make him pay, but do not want to go to jail for making him a bloody pulp.

"Yang," Pyrrha said, looking over at Yang while they were at a stoplight, "Mind telling me what you were planning on doing to him if I didn't come with and prevent you from doing it?"

Yang takes her phone out of her pocket and pulls up a document with many ideas of what to do to Cardin. "Should I start at the top of the list or the ones I think that are the most fun and damaging to his skull," Yang said, with an evil smile on her face, knowing if she had her way Cardin wouldn't be the same when they left.

"I would say just give the most interesting ones because I don't have all day to listen to your murder plots," Pyrrha said, pressing her foot down on the gas as the light turns to green.

"The ones I think are the most interesting are," Yang said, as she scrolled through the list looking for her favorites, "Knocking him out, then tying his arms and legs to different cars that drive different ways. Another good one is slamming his head between two insanely large bars to crush his skull. My favorite I'm going to keep to myself so you can't stop me from doing it." Yang said, covering her favorite idea so Pyrrha couldn't see, even though she was driving.

"I should have expected that much from you, Yang," Pyrrha said, continuing down the road toward their destination.

Pyrrha got to the next light and rolled her window down to let the wind go through her hair and so she could relax on her drive with Yang, she didn't get much time to just relax and drive she usually was racing or in some form of urgency when she was driving. The road had less traffic than usual cause it was the morning and the part of town they were in never had too much traffic.

Yang cut off Pyrrha's train of thought suddenly by saying "I wonder if the others have woken up and gotten breakfast yet?"

Pyrrha responded with, "I'm not sure they all were up pretty late. We can text Ren and Jaune to see if they have when we get to the jail."

Jaune motioned for Blake to take a seat at the bar and grab some of the pancakes that Ren had made for the group. Blake sheepishly grabbed some pancakes and took the seat on Jaune's right, which Ren was on Jaune's left. The room was quiet enough that the birds could be heard chirping outside and there was so much tension it could be cut with a knife.

Ren eventually broke the silence with, "Blake, how much of me and Jaune's conversation did you hear," scared she had heard that Ren was about to tell Jaune about his past.

Blake, still nervous beyond belief, muttered out; "I heard that you were going to tell Jaune about your past and that you specifically didn't want me to hear cause you had feelings for me."

"Well then guess you should know also since you would find out eventually anyway." Ren said, with his signature level head. "Probably should start with how I am so dangerous in combat while refusing to partake in it unless absolutely necessary."

Ren took a seat on the recliner and motioned for Jaune and Blake to take a seat also, anticipating telling everything would take a while. Both sat down on a couch and understanding by the look on Ren's face that this would take a while.

"As you guys get comfortable I'm going to go ahead and start." Ren said leaning back, looking toward the ceiling, in the recliner. "I was born and raised in Japan with a weird childhood, if you can even call it that, while being taught math and science, I was taught how to be an efficient machine in combat. Every day after school I would find myself being drilled for hours on many different ways to take down an opponent, no matter the opponent's size, strength, weaponry or skill in combat. It came to a point where I would find myself trying to get away from it by hiding at a friend's house or spending the night in the woods. It rarely worked, however, I more common than not was found and ambushed to be taken back to my house and punished. But, the times it did work I spent those nights acting like a regular child or learning how to survive on my own."

"Wait, so what you are telling us is that you were trained to be a killing machine from when you were young?!" Jaune said, shocked that Ren's childhood was as bad as it was.

"Sounds like it, but, you should let him continue, Jaune." Blake interjected, wanting to hear more.

"Thank you, Blake, well back to what I was saying, those nights I spent away from home were some of my favorite moments of my childhood, even though finding food in the forest was tough." Ren continued, deciding on what to tell them right now, "Fast forward to my teens and I had gotten better at escaping and even better at fighting off the men my father sent after me. It seemed like every day at school I would fall asleep in my classes but my grades would never suffer, to the amazement of all of my teachers and classmates. I wasn't sleeping much at night and was spending most nights finding out what could be used to cook and what couldn't be. That time during my teens was where I discovered my love for the culinary arts and enrolled in the culinary club at my school. In that club, when we made stuff, everyone wanted to work with me and maybe have some of my inherent skill rub off. What they didn't know was that I had actually built myself a place to live and had found some old pots and pans that were left out and used them to cook for myself, funny thing is that the pots and pans over there are the same ones I had during my teens."

Ren leaned up from the recliner and pointed over to the pans he had in the sink.

"Those pans over there in the sink are the exact same ones I had during my teens," Ren explained, seeing the confusion on Blake and Jaune's faces.

"Wow, I know some people who refuse to use pans longer than a year or two, let alone over a decade," Blake said, looking over at the pans mesmerized at how old they were but how new they looked.

"Yeah, I can't even imagine using the same pots and pans for that long or living in the woods while doing it," Jaune agreed, looking over at the pots and thinking about how it might have been living in the woods.

"There are very few that can, in all honesty, what amazes me though is how no one found my little hideout, with all the stuff I had stashed in it," Ren remarked, "I escaped my father that way though because at one point he just stopped sending men after me and I changed my name with the school so he couldn't use those records to find me again. The school never asked any questions about it but I could tell they were all thinking them. One day though, a student caused an accident in a chemistry lab and the school started to go up in flames. The teachers got everyone out and while the school was in panic, I saw my father's men coming and ran off of the school grounds. I had decided I was done hiding and was going to leave the country as soon as I could. I got a job at a ramen shop and worked there until I had enough money to leave for America. The owner of the shop was nice and gave me a job on the condition that I wouldn't officially be an employee and would be paid under the table. I told him that would work for me since I don't legally exist anyway. It took about 4 months of working six days a week to make the money I needed to come to America. It would have been longer if not for business booming not long because of my recipe for ramen, which quickly became a favorite and what the shop was known for. I loved working at that shop and was getting paid more than the official employees because I had created the dish the shop was becoming known for. I hadn't told any of the workers or the owner himself how I made that ramen with the taste that it had, despite them begging me for the recipe. When I left though, I told the owner the recipe and he was astonished at it because he had never considered using locally grown fresh herbs in ramen. I had saved up more than enough to make the flight over because I had no clue how much I would need for lodging and to get myself started here. My first day here I ran into Nora at the airport and almost immediately we became friends. She helped me get settled here in America and actually taught me how to drive. That's a story for another time though. Those are most of the major points of my childhood and teens though so any questions?"

"I actually have a couple of questions. First of all, how did your dad not find you at the airport? Also, how did you not get captured by your father when you left on that business trip recently?" Blake asked, pondering all of the information that had just been given to her.

"To answer your first question, Blake, I had gotten a fake passport and no one knew who I actually was. The second is actually a much more interesting answer, the reason I had went to Japan was because of his death. He had died and I had heard about it so I had to go and make my claim to the wealth, and if it came to it fight for it. I ended up taking a good chunk of the money away because I ended up actually having to fight for it. In the ensuing fight, many of the men who came for the money were injured and because of how the will was worded, lost their share of the wealth," Ren explained to the curious and questioning cat faunus.

"Oh wow, your family does not play around it seems like. Losing your share of the inheritance because of a fight seems a bit harsh, but with what you've told me already seems to fit with the theme." Blake said, with a look of bewilderment at how a father could be so cruel.

"They don't play around in the slightest, thats for sure," Ren remarked, finding the comment a bit funny, "Anyway, I probably should go out and catch up with a couple old friends that are moving into town plus maybe help them find a place to live."

"Hey Ren, do you think your friends would be ok with living here as they look for a place? We have that extra room in the basement Pyrrha was in before she moved her stuff into my room," Jaune quickly spoke up.

"Maybe, they are used to living with many people at once from what I know, we would have to ask the others though. Also, don't worry about them snitching on the racing, they race also and are somewhat respected in the scene where they are from," Ren stopped and thought about how his friends would react to everyone and how everyone would react to them, knowing that some have heard of the duo, but not what they look like.

"Blake, what do you think of the idea?" Jaune asked, looking over at the faunus.

"I think it would be a good idea, as long as they don't cause any issues." Blake said, picking a book up to read.

"Okay then, I'll text Pyrrha and Yang about the idea while Ren goes and catches up with his friends then tell Nora, Ruby and Weiss when they all wake up." Jaune said, grabbing his phone to text the girls on the way to the jail.

As Pyrrha pulled into the jail, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Once she parked, she pulled it out to see a text from Jaune about her opinion on two friends of Ren moving into the basement, at least temporarily, and to ask Yang her opinion. She turned off the car and got out to see Yang already headed up to the door.

Pyrrha caught up to the busty blonde and said, "Hey Yang, what would you think of two of Ren's friends moving into the basement?"

"I'm okay with it, as long as they don't snitch and aren't total jerks," Yang responded to the question as the duo walked in and got cleared to go to the cell Cardin was being held in.

As the two girls walked up to the cell, they saw two guys standing in front of the cell already and wondering what this guy had done to get dropped.

"What did you do to piss someone like Ren off that badly that he sent you spinning," The one wearing a denim jacket said to Cardin.

Before Cardin could respond to the question, Pyrrha asked, "Are you two Ren's friends that might be moving into the basement?"

"If your referring to Lie Ren, then yes we are, my name is Mav and my friend in the jacket is Madden," Mav said, tapping Madden on the shoulder to get him to look over at the girls.

"What Mav," Madden said looking over to where Mav gestured, "Oh hello, what are you ladies doing here today?"

"My name is Pyrrha and we're here to visit Cardin," Pyrrha responded for herself and Yang.

"This punk hurt my sister and I want to have a couple words with him since I haven't gotten to yet," Yang seethed, with fire in her eyes, "Oops, forgot to introduce myself, my name is Yang."

Right as Yang finished up talking, Madden's phone went off with a call from Ren. He excused himself to take the call and Ren told him that Pyrrha and Yang were friends of his and lived with him. As he looked back toward the group, Mav was making jokes as he usually did and Yang was laughing at them and cracking her own. Once he finished the call Madden caught up with Mav, Yang and Pyrrha as they were walking out of the jail.

"Hey Mav, we got a place to stay it seems like, well as long as the last couple people who live with Ren are okay with it," Madden told Mav, even though he knew he wasn't listening, then moving to Pyrrha he asked, "Did you see what Ren did to Cardin at the place or just hear about it afterward?"

Pyrrha was texting Jaune that her and Yang were ok with Madden and Mav moving in and that they had met them at the jail actually.

"I saw it," Pyrrha responded, gesturing to Mav and Yang ahead of them, "And I see our friends hitting it off a bit, I haven't seen someone make Yang relax that quickly ever even."

As the group got to their cars Yang got into Mav's car because Mav had apparently talked her into going out for food with him.

"Don't do anything dumb, tin can leg," Madden called over to Mav, laughing at how Mav is so good at getting females to go on dates.

"When you guys get done bring Mav by the house so he can get moved in," Pyrrha called to Yang as she was getting into Mav's Civic and called over to Madden as he was getting into his Bravado Gauntlet, "Madden, you follow me over to the house so you can start getting moved into you and Mav's room."

As the group split up with Yang and Mav going to get food then Pyrrha and Madden going back to the house. It was an uneventful ride with Madden listening to Sweet Home Hagibana and wondering if he should tell those he is moving in with his secret.

As they pulled up to the house, Madden saw a girl in a dress with red highlights in her hair bouncing around with energy on the front lawn of the house him and Mav were supposed to stay at. He parked on the street in front of the house because the garage seemed to be full. Pyrrha pulled into the garage as Madden got out. As Madden was walking up to the house, Weiss intercepted him.

"You must be one of Ren's friends, my name is Weiss," Weiss said as she intercepted Madden, "Some ground rules are don't make too much of a mess, don't reveal our street racing and don't cause any trouble for the group."

"You ain't gonna need to worry about being revealed by me because I'm one also, I usually am one of the cleanest people I know compared to Mav at least and if I cause trouble it will be settled with my Gauntlet and the road. Honestly I'm surprised none of you have recognized me yet." Madden continued walking as he spoke, coming to the door.

"Is that a good or bad thing," Weiss asked, confused.

"Good in some cases and bad in some also," Madden trailed off, being interrupted by a squealing girl behind him.

"OH MY COOKIES, IT'S THE GREY GAUNTLET. IT IS THE ONLY ONE IF ITS KIND IN EXISTENCE AND IT HAS THE SYMBOL OF THE MYSTERIOUS DRIVER ON THE HOOD," Ruby squealed.

"Welp, I've been recognized," Madden sighed.

Ruby heard this and stopped fawning over the car and ran over to the driver of the car.

"WAIT YOU ARE THE DRIVER OF THE GREY GAUNTLET," Ruby squealed jumping around Madden like a crazed fan, "I ADMIRE YOUR WORK AND ALWAYS WANTED TO MEET YOU!"

"We probably should head inside before she blows a gasket," Weiss said, opening the door for Madden and Ruby.

Reaching above Weiss' head to hold the door with his left hand and gesturing with his right Madden said, "After you m'lady."

"Well aren't you a gentleman," Weiss remarked at Madden holding the door while she entered.

"I was raised in a way that I was taught to hold the door for women," Madden responded to the remark.

"Still, it's uncommon around here, also, shouldn't you be bringing your stuff in currently it's supposed to start raining soon," Weiss commented.

"Yeah, but that will only take a second since I don't carry too much from place to place," Madden responded, thinking about his minimal luggage.

Madden let Weiss and Ruby walk into the house before going to grab his luggage from his car. His luggage consisted of a small suitcase for clothes, some cloth for repairing his jacket and a case for a hunting rifle and ammunition. He opened up the weapon case and looked at his custom R700 hunting rifle that was given to him by his father, then he modded it so the gun could fire faster overall. When he finished looking at the weapon and remembering he closed the case and brought his stuff inside right as it started to rain.

As Madden entered the house, Weiss said, "You really don't have much luggage, but what is in that large case, might I ask?"

Madden responded, "I'll show you as i get unpacked in the basement if you really want to know, everyone else can come down and look too. Also, where is the basement?"

With that, Weiss got up and led Madden to the bedroom in the basement where Madden and Mav would be staying, with Ruby following behind. They made small talk as Madden unpacked his suitcase and Pyrrha brought down an air mattress for the room before Madden grabbed the gun case and put it onto the bed.

"I see you got here safely, Madden, also thanks for telling me you guys met up with Pyrrha and Yang on accident," Ren said, walking down the stairs to the basement.

"Oh hey, Ren, nice timing, I was just about to show the girls here my R700 because Weiss asked about the case," Madden said to Ren.

"I remember when you got that," Ren said, walking toward the group around the case,"I did not hear from you at all that day, you shot that thing so many times Mav had to go to the shooting range to get you to stop, but by that point you were so fast with it."

"Yeah, I remember," Madden reminisced about that day, opening the case for the firearm, "Anyway, this is my rifle I hunt with during the season, it's modded in a way that I can rechamber faster than I should be able to. I usually fire with no scope because when I first got it, I never had one and became a very fast and accurate shot with the iron sights."

"Well we probably should let Madden get settled in and wait for Ren's other friend to show up," Pyrrha said, moving toward the stairs.

"You said you hunt, right," Weiss said, with a look of questioning.

"Yes, I did," Madden responded, closing the case and locking it.

"I've never had venison before, could you bring some of that home so we can try it," Weiss said, with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Oh easily, I try to take down a deer at least one a week and process it for meat, one rule i have though is all the meat is either ate or given to someone who will," Madden said, putting the case in the corner of the room.

"Okay, well I better go make sure Ruby, the one that recognized you, doesn't break anything," Weiss said, heading out of the basement.

After Weiss had gotten up the staircase and out of earshot, as far as Madden knew, he asked," Ren do you think I should tell them about my secret?"

"You should at some point but you have to decide when to do that," Ren responded, knowing what Madden referred to as his secret.

"Okay, I probably will tell them after I get to know them better, or one finds out on accident," Madden said, walking toward the stairway, "Well I think I'm done unpacking, lets head upstairs to wait for Mav to get back from getting food with your friend Yang."

Madden and Ren went upstairs to find most of those who lived there in the living room chatting about the day so far. Those who Madden had not yet met introduced themselves and Madden sat down in a recliner and pulled out a deck of cards from his jacket pocket and started to shuffle them. After a bit, the front door opened and Mav and Yang walked in, drenched and laughing.

"What did you do, Mav," Madden said, looking at the duo.

"Let's just say, I have some competition in drifting and jokes," Mav laughed.

"Just go get dried off and bring your stuff in, there are a lot of people here for you to meet," Madden said, facepalming at something that he never thought was possible.

Mav went out and grabbed his stuff, significantly more than Madden's, then Yang led him to the basement to get unpacked and get into dry clothes. Eventually, Mav came back up to the living room with a look of satisfaction on his face and grabbed a seat next to Yang while everyone introduced themselves.

"Since its raining and we got enough people, whos up for a game of Cards Against Humanity," Mav said, pulling out a box for the game.

"Oh no, let's do this," Madden said, leaning toward the table.

 **Authors Note: I just realized I forgot to credit my friend Dan Song for letting me use his character Mav, which he gave me written permission to do. Also, I have no clue when this will be updated again because consistency is for people who are not me.**


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